You Never Knew
by Nella Siphron
Summary: An ancient alien race has come to harvest Natsumi to power their planet. Giroro arrives to save her but at what cost? Can Natsumi live with herself afterwards? This is a one-shot and rated for blood, a death, and exposed Natsumi-ness.


Hello my fellow Gironatsu fans, I bring you the one-shot tragedy i have been working on. This is the piece that belongs to the letter I posted a short time ago. Please leave a review to help me improve or just to help get the feels out; and don't feel bad if you cry, i cried multiple times while writing this.

* * *

She awoke that morning from another nightmare. Her eyes burnt with tears as they fell down her paled cheeks. It was the same thing every night and morning. She would burst awake multiple times from the same display of horrors that played in her head.

_The blood soaking into the dirt of the field. A dull breath of the wind brushed over the wild plants. The body appeared even more lifeless compared to the greenery around him. It was the only time that he appeared so weak, so vulnerable. She never believed that the red warrior would let himself be destroyed so easily, but he did._

The girl clutched the black belt in her hands as she watched the sunrise for the fifth time in a row. It was just too beautiful. **_I don't deserve to see something so comforting and warm. It's my fault he's gone! He's dead because of me!_** A fresh burning flood of tears fallowed the path of the previous ones. She turned her swollen amber eyes down to the silver case of the belt. She never once opened it in the five days since the platoon brought them home. It was the one mystery she had left of Giroro.

* * *

5 days ago

It was early afternoon when Giroro tossed another crumpled paper over his shoulder to the mountain of failed attempts. Each one started with the same line, "Dear Natsumi," but after the second line it would either sound too cheesy, weak, or weird to the corporal. He pulled out another sheet and began to scribble the same beginning. This time he decided to start out by just jotting thoughts instead of jumping to the point or using some horrible pick-up line.

_Dear Natsumi,_

_Hey it's me. This is probably the stupidest idea I've had and it feels really weak to write a letter when I can just talk to you. Though, you may have noticed by now, I have a hard time saying what's on my mind around you. So here goes my millionth attempt to tell you what I think and how I feel. Frog this feels awkward._

Looking it over again he found another thought and continued. So far this is his best attempt. Doing his best to shove aside his manly urge to judge, hate himself, and blow things up, he managed to write a full letter. He slipped it inside his belt to keep it safe for later editing.

The clock beside him flicked to 15:45. **_She'll be home soon. _**Giroro sighed before exiting his tent. He took a big breath of the fresh air and set up his cleaning supplies. He grabbed a few choice weapons that could use a little more shine from Keroro's last failure of an invasion plan.

* * *

Meanwhile the young pekoponian female was walking home with a little bounce in her step. Her grades were as amazing as ever and she got to see Saburo a few times today without making a complete fool of herself. She was halfway home when an odd buzzing rang through her ears. It grew steadily louder and painful to the point that Natsumi had to cringe and cover her ears.

She looked around for the source but only found that she was surrounded by a pink bubble.

"Wh-what's going on?!" Natsumi cried as she was lifted higher. Soon the shimmer of a deactivated anti-barrier revealed an alien craft. With quick thinking the girl typed an S.O.S. on her phone right before being carried into the command room of the ship.

Natsumi squinted to make out the few shapes in the dim light. She could count three but two were occupied by computers. The bubble around her thinned and disappeared, letting her collapse onto the cold floor in the sunlight coming from the main window.

"Welcome to the Imaga ship. My name is Amam." The figure that stood came closer to Natsumi. With the bright light she could see the alien's form. It looked like a human porcelain doll with a Victorian style dress. Even her hair was perfect. The only visible difference was what appeared to be extra irises with different shades of blue in her eyes. Amam turned her head to one of the shaded figures at the screens. "Lizo please do the scan. I want to make sure she is proper for the installment."

"Scanning in progress my lady." The figure responded with a deeper masculine tone.

"What do you want with me? What is this 'installment'?" Natsumi finally choked out her question. Amam returned her attention to the pekoponian.

"We are Thuans from the planet Gorgeon and we have come in search for a replacement source of power to fuel our home. I know it's true that we could have picked someone from somewhere much closer to home, but you pekoponians are so rich with pure love."

"I-I'm confused. Love?"

"Our race thrives on the strength love gives and only the truest love can last long enough. We were here hundreds of years ago but the sources we harvested are dying out. You, Natsumi, are the pekoponian with the strongest level of love we can find; so you will be the replacement." Amam snapped her fingers and four metal grips clamped around Natsumi's limbs and pinned her to the wall. "Gleflan are we close to the target?"

"Yes my lady." The other figure spoke with a quiet feminine voice.

"Wait till you see the burial ground we have picked for you. With every harvest we select the prettiest and most peaceful location for the chosen source because we understand how sad the whole thing is."

Natsumi wriggled against the grips but found that it only wounded her as her ankles bruised and her wrists on the verge of bleeding. Tears started sliding down her paled cheeks. She wanted to scream out but who would hear her but her captors. They were many stories in the air and who knows if they were even over a populated area anymore. Feeling despair and hopelessness she could only think of the only one who had any chance of saving her. She whispered the name of her red defender.

"Giroro. Please."

* * *

"Kululu I see the ship. It's unfamiliar, do a scan." The deep voice urged through the earpiece demanding for any bit of information that could help him. He flew higher and higher almost within shooting range of the vessel.

"My computers are telling me that it's from the long lost race of Thuans but that's impossible. KUkuku." The creepy voice of intellect chanted back to the warrior. "You better hurry up. If they are Thuans, they'll rip her heart out and plug it into their system's back home; all the way on the opposite side of the universe."

"Any weaknesses?" Enraged he picked up speed and nearly reached what could be called the windshield.

"Not really. The surrounding planets consider them 'gods'. Kukuku, and I don't think they'll leave without her. Good luck corporal."

* * *

Back on the Imaga.

"My lady we have reached our destination." Gleflan reported.

"Good, Lizo what are the results?" Amam focused on a side table with a few tools which would be used against Natsumi.

"I'm sorry to say this, my lady but she isn't ready."

"What do you mean?" she stopped moving to focus on his explanation.

"Well, she still has the ability but; she hasn't awakened to it yet."

"Pekoponian, have you not fallen in love?"

Natsumi blushed and considered not responding but there was a chance that they could kill her anyway for not cooperating.

"I have a crush on this boy-"

"But you're not in love with him." Amam walked closer to the girl and looked deep into her amber eyes. After a short examination she looked sad. "It's true. You haven't found it yet. You poor thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry but the operation is going to be more painful and you haven't even had the chance to discover true love. We have to force it open."

Suddenly the glass window exploded, sending glass in all directions. Natsumi closed her eyes but still retained a few cuts, unlike Amam who appeared untouched. The smoke soon cleared and revealed the attacker standing amongst the debris.

"Giroro, how did you-" Natsumi nearly cried harder, feeling as if her prayers were answered.

"Fuyuki got your message and immediately sent me, and I had Kururu use the GPS tracking in your phone to locate you." The suffocating essence of anger radiated from him as he looked up. He aimed the cannon on his shoulder towards the unfazed Amam.

"Gleflan, the wall please." Shortly after the order a thick translucent wall rose from the floor separating Giroro from the rest.

"NO! Don't you dare!" Giroro banged and shot at the wall but to no avail.

"Giroro!" Natsumi screamed towards her only hope, giving Amam the perfect opportunity to strap a medical gas mask onto the pekoponian's face. The smoke billowing from it knocked her out almost instantaneously.

"I'm sorry but if I don't do this my people will perish." Amam grabbed a knife and began to make precise cuts through the pekoponian fabric. Soon Natsumi's chest could be seen, exposed for the operation.

Giroro pounded once more against the wall and fell to his knees dropping the weapon beside him.

"Natsumi, I'm so sorry. I didn't get here sooner." He clenched his teeth, feeling the weight of his failure to keep her safe.

With a marker in hand, about to mark the skin for incisions, Amam halted her procedure hearing an alarm behind her.

"My lady, it appears that there is a stronger source; even stronger than the girl." Lizo stated calmly while tapping away at his computer.

"Locate it immediately, please." She placed the pen down on the tray of tools.

"It's….. My lady it's the Keronian."

Giroro perked up at the new statement. Amam locked her eyes onto the red frog and he was trapped by the same grips that held his Natsumi. The wall was lowered back into the floor as Giroro was carried over and slammed into the wall, right next to the unconscious girl. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth from the impact.

Amam leaned towards him and stared.

"Open your eyes red one, I need to read you."

Giroro complied allowing his steel gray eyes to meet with her blue ones. After a short few minutes, Amam could read every last intense bit of his heart; and knew why he turned to Natsumi only to suddenly be filled with sadness and worry.

"You were supposed to invade her, be her lord and master; but you felt it. You felt the most beautiful and powerful thing in the entirety of existence. You fell in love." Amam took a step back.

"And that's what you need isn't it. You need the heart of someone who has felt love." Giroro closed his eyes again. He knew that what he was about to say was the truest thing he ever felt; and he was ready to accept his fate and become her sacrifice. The tears already began to fall. "I can honestly promise you that you will meet no one else with as much love as I have for her. I beg you to take me and me only. I'm more than enough for you and your kind. I am willing to let you take my heart if she gets stay safe and alive! Please!"

The waves of emotion pounded through the Victorian styled alien. Seeing the frog who was ready to kill her in a moment's notice now crying, even begging for the pekoponian. Her heart vibrated causing her to cry. She had forgotten what true love felt like. She had also forgotten the pain that came with losing love.

"Your terms are accepted. Natsumi will not be harmed. In fact…" Amam placed her slender forefinger at the top Natsumi's cleavage, over her heart. Smoke and the scent of singed skin floated up as Amam removed her finger to reveal a small pattern of spirals. "Her heart is now and forever protected."

Without rubbing aside her tears, the leader Thuan gave Giroro the gas mask. The plan would continue.

* * *

**THUD!**

Natsumi's eyes fluttered open. She sat up and rubbed her head as it throbbed. **_Where am I?_** She looked around to see the most beautiful meadow she could ever dream of. **_Where's Giroro?! _**She turned her head so fast that her vision became blurry. She closed her eyes and held her head waiting for it to return to normal.

She only looked around again when she heard a quiet thud next to her. Her eyes froze when she found him lying on the grass. He had a delicately stitched scar on his chest but it didn't stop the blood from seeping out and onto the greenery around them. Natsumi's throat swelled as she spoke.

"Giroro…." She grabbed his hand hoping to stir him, to get any reaction. Tears flooded down her face and she choked a few times trying to breathe. "What do I do?! How do I-"

"Natsumi, listen to me." The girl did her best to quiet her sobs. The least she could do was hear what he had to say. "I want you to stay safe. Promise me that okay?"

Natsumi nodded as more tears strode down staining her skin before landing on his hand.

"Take my belt. It holds the most important thing in my life. Keep it safe for me." He held it up to her. After her shaking hands were able to grab hold of it, Giroro coughed. A final clearing of his throat hacked its way through his chest, bringing a bit of blood out of his mouth. "I never had the strength to just tell you myself. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. Stay strong… My warrior... princess."

As the field quieted down, Natsumi could feel her throat closing again. She held his hand tighter, trying to stay awake but her jagged breathing forced her to lose consciousness.

* * *

Present day

The last secret he had, the most important thing to him was protected by the metal clasp in her hands. She pressed it to her forehead remembering his last moments. She had begun to recall more and more with each passing day but today she could see it all.

**Knock! Knock!**

Natsumi looked at her door to see it was wide open. In the door frame stood the last person she thought would want to see her. Garuru padded over to her bed knowing she didn't have the strength to invite him in. He glanced at the boxes of weapons and military supplies as he passed them.

Everyone believed that Giroro would want Natsumi to have all of his belongings. The only thing they didn't move was the tent. It still sat outside in the backyard housing Miss Furbottom as she still waited every day for him to come home. Everyone took turns to feed her, except Natsumi.

The purple keronian looked at the girl, who locked herself away.

"You know all of Giroro's admirers back home are going to blame you." The girl hung her head at his statement. "But I'll keep them away from you."

Natsumi was surprised to hear this. **_ He would protect me?_**

"I know my little brother enough to understand that he sacrificed himself for you. You didn't do anything so you don't deserve blame. I also won't let his sacrifice go to waste."

"But I'm still the reason. He died for my life; and what hurts my head the most is that I don't know why. It doesn't make sense" Natsumi tried her hardest to hold back the tears to speak properly, but it was still too difficult.

"The answer is in his belt." Garuru sighed before placing a hand on his own belt. "It's something Giroro and I did. We hide out hearts in it; what keeps us driving forward. He once said that they were what makes us crazy but sane at the same time; so we lock them away and keep them close inside the hidden compartment."

Natsumi stared at the metal casing and took a deep breath as she clicked it open. She found a folded piece of paper but underneath was herself; smiling right back up. She tilted the belt pouring out a few other pictures of the pink hair in pigtails over her bed. The girl looked back at the paper in her hands and slowly unfolded it.

It was a letter. She read on and her eyes began to squint as she was about to again breakdown.

_Dear Natsumi,_

_Hey it's me. This is probably the stupidest idea I've had and it feels really weak to write a letter when I can just talk to you. Though, you may have noticed by now, I have a hard time saying what's on my mind around you. So here goes my millionth attempt to tell you what I think and how I feel. Frog this feels awkward._

_First of all I think I want to apologize for everything I did that made you feel awkward or creeped out. I also never meant to scare you if that's how you see me. I know I must be intimidating. A bloodthirsty warrior like me could easily frighten innocent girls, but you also have a stronger side that I admire. I actually pray that you never see how dangerous I can get._

_Ok changing the subject, earlier I was thinking of the moments we share eating sweet potatoes. I wonder if you enjoy them as much as I do. They are sweet but not too sweet, just perfect. It's also a very nutritional food product that gives the proper energy needed for battle and it can help sharpen some of your senses. They smell good when cooked and …. I think I've started rambling. They sort of, make me think of you._

_That sounded weird didn't it. I'll probably throw this letter into the fire with the others tonight but I'll try to finish anyway. Maybe if by some magic force I get the courage to actually give this letter to you, and you read it, you won't hate me. I don't know I highly doubt it though. This entire thing seems kind of stupid to me, but something else about me really has to do this and get it out._

_It's like a feeling that's just dying literally and it hurts the longer I keep it inside; to hide things about me from you. The only reason I'm actually able to continue writing is that I think you deserve to learn more about me with everything that we've been through together. You have fought through so much and proved yourself a worthy adversary._

_If I were in your position I would want to know everything about my enemy, especially their truest intentions; and you have earned that right._

_The truth is that I no longer wish to invade your planet for the pure thrill and honor of battle. I only continue because it is my job. Otherwise, I might have to leave, dishonorably discharged, or even be executed for betraying orders. You have proven to me that not every last pekoponian is worthless and idiotic. Your primate based race is strong; you just have to know where to look. I was lucky enough to run into the strongest heart on all of Pekopon._

_You are the best, even compared to most keronians. The only thing that gets me is that even with your high intellect, you never knew. You didn't notice my biggest secret. You never knew what keeps me fighting. You never knew what inspires me to get stronger. I'll probably never be able to tell you in person either since this letter is now officially an embarrassment and dent to my warrior pride._

_Natsumi, you never knew that I love you._

_ ~G66_

Her heart burned. His voice echoed in her head as she read his words. She held the paper away as her head fell into her knees. She wouldn't let her tears smudge his letter. With each sob her heart burnt more, until it felt as if her skin was on fire. She was about to scream when a whisper slipped into her ears.

"Natsumi."

Her head snapped up and standing before her was the ghostly holograph of Giroro.

"Giro-ro." Natsumi hiccupped "How are you-"

"In exchange for my heart they seared a lost alien technology in your skin that will protect yours. It even builds a psychic link between you and me." Giroro pointed to the spiral design on her chest.

"But you-'re-" The girl hiccupped again.

"I know; but they required my heart and… and the strength of my love. So my soul is attached to my still beating heart. In that sense I'm still kind of; alive." The shimmering red frog blushed slightly, and very glad that only she could see and hear him.

A small silence passed before the girl could speak.

"Giroro, I'm sorry I never noticed."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're safe."

"No, I meant that I'm sorry I never noticed that I could love you back. It was so strong that I confused it for anger or fear." Natsumi wiped her wet cheeks. Her eyes seemed to sparkle again as she looked into the gray eyes of her keronian. "I love you Giroro."

The frog's image flickered even more.

"Natsumi, I have to go. But you will see me again, the next time you're lonely or you need me. When your heart burns I will return. Goodbye, for now my love."

The particles that built him soon fizzled and scattered back into the air.

"Thank you, Giroro." For the first time in five days Natsumi showed (no matter how faint, it was most definitely) a smile.

"So what just happened?" Garuru spoke once he was sure that whatever was going on had finished. "The mark on your chest began to glow and then you, you kind of started talking to the air. Addressing it as Giroro."

"The aliens put a mark on me to protect my heart and it's embedded with some sort of telepathic communications device." Natsumi placed a hand over the spirals as it dimmed. "I was able to hear him. I didn't lose Giroro."

"I'll need to report this to my superiors. We've been secretly trying to locate the Thuans for invasion, much like what we planned for Pekopon; but what Giroro did may have changed everything." Garuru headed towards the door.

"Garuru."

The purple keronian paused and turned his head to the side, acknowledging her.

"Tell her. Don't wait until it's too late. Don't let her find out, the way I did with Giroro."

"I promise."

* * *

582 days in the future

**_It turns out that Giroro's sacrifice built trust and a peace treaty between the Keronians and the Thuans. One week after the official report was turned in, they held his funeral. I attended even if some of the others gave me hateful and dirty looks. He was automatically promoted to Master Gunnery Sergeant. His family even allowed his grave stone to read "Master of Guns". Which everyone found most fitting. He was also awarded five medals; his family kept four but I was given the one awarded for his sacrificial action. It seems like his family accepts me, Garuru even considers me like a little sister; I think._**

**_A few days after the funeral, Garuru confessed his feelings. He kept his promise and now he's in a relationship with Pururu._**

**_The Thuans believe that Giroro can keep them alive and thriving for nearly the rest of time and built an entire castle sized memorial in his honor. Any keronian who settled on the planet is allowed to visit. I still had a life on Earth with my family and friends. Besides, the keronians have halted their invasion of Earth because of my influence to the whole matter. It hasn't been officially canceled so the stupid frogs are still living with us. They were just ordered to study us instead of conquer._**

**_As for me I am now in college, studying to become a political leader and a professional athlete on the side. I chose a university close to home so I could stay with everyone and within range to a display room in the base dedicated to Giroro; mostly just a place to keep his stuff. Every now and then (a couple times a month) I'll go in and pick a few guns and polish them for him; and when I'm lonely and thinking about him so much that I cry I hear his soothing warm voice. Giroro is gone, but he is still with me. With the mark on my chest I can spend the rest of my life with my guardian frog._**


End file.
